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I hug Professor X and the next person!

Sweet Pea hugs

Sweet Pea hugs

I hug ThetaIn3D

Aw, thanks! I just saw your post in the one-word thread, that was very sweet.

It's nothing to worry about too much, I just made a Facebook post for World Autism Day, and felt vulnerable because I was worried that my family would see it as more inappropriate self-disclosure. And of course they're a little bit right; you never know how people will react, even though for me it's mostly positive nowadays.

Not to mention the fact that I'm very mild, so sometimes I don't even think I'm an Aspie or feel like one. So I feel like a poser fairly often. But I have a few symptoms that really stand out to me, and a ton of mild symptoms in common with everyone here, and a few things that pretty clearly indicate I have some brain differences. So I could even be sub-clinical, although I have been diagnosed... but I think my sub-clinical symptoms come from having an Aspie-like brain.

A hug for Moomingirl the Kind-Hearted, and for everyone else who could use one. Thank you so much.

Hugs to equestriatola because I like hearing about old-time game shows.

I don't know why families see it as inappropriate. If you have been diagnosed with it, then why shouldn't you tell people? I think its great to challenge peoples perceptions of autism, most of them do not understand it is a spectrum, they just picture Rainman.

I was diagnosed very recently. My husband is still in denial about it. I am not, once I read up about it, it was so obvious to me

I have told very few people so far. One of them said to me outright "oh don't be silly, you don't have Aspergers". I told her I was really sorry, I hadn't realised she was qualified to diagnose me. As usual she looked at one stereotype, I didn't fit that, so I must be making it up. People don't realise how hard I have to work to get through a normal day. And never mind about the offical diagnosis I got!

Sorry about the rant. A big hug to anyone who is misunderstood

I hug all who are struggling to accept themselves as Aspies!

That is something I greatly appreciate too, thank you Anonymous. Same from me, that's a good habit to be in; unless they don't like being touched I suppose.

And ironically I've never seen Rainman. I'm going to put it on my movie list just for kicks.

I tend to agree with you. And anyways, I'm compulsively transparent, honest and self-disclosing; the truth is even though my family managed to scare me, I probably told 50+ people immediately afterwards. I had already put it on Facebook explicitly (not like this time), which is what my family was reacting to, but I felt no shame. I just had to talk about it, I wanted to let it all out and be understood and justified. And I feel a lot better for doing so; except for feeling like I was exposing myself to rejection and alienation.



Me too, it looks like we may have been about the same time. I got mine on February 12. And I kept hearing about Autism and I'd heard of Asperger's, but even a year ago I really didn't have any concept that anything like that could be a brain condition. At first, it was nothing but good news to me; I got my first clue by watching Maja's "Positives About Being an Aspie" video. And I was like, "sweet! I finally understand why I'm like this, and it does good things for me. I am not alone and I am something special." Then I started to wake up more to the permanent nature of it, the difficulties with socializing, love and life.

And the day I actually got my diagnosis, I just about had a "life flashing before my eyes" moment, because once I finally had the luxury of knowing I was right, I immediately knew how to correctly interpret so many things in my experience. My eyes were opened and all of the sudden all my Aspie moments and symptoms from the entire rest of my life came flooding back to me. If memories could be like leftovers kept in the fridge, the experience was like opening the door and discovering Aspie-mold growing all over everything. Not a single dish was untainted.

It was an awful shock. I was like, ok, huh, so this is actually real. Now it's just confusing and frustrating to try and figure out whether I can really call myself an Aspie or not, since I'm so close to the threshold. I think I come down on thinking yes, I am, because my symptoms overwhelmingly follow that pattern and I've never been able to shake the social anxiety, glitchiness and strain I feel all the time. Gradeschool into adulthood, I always feel the same way with every new interaction and I always have to fight it. So the way I look at it, it's pointless not to be an Aspie, even if I'm mild, because this is definitely something that doesn't have a better name.


Agh, her reaction makes me sad! I'm sorry you were dismissed like that. People don't have a lot of inborn understanding for things like Asperger's, and actually remembering that they're learning too has helped. I like to just cut them some slack and be persistent about explaining it, since many of them were longstanding friends before. Eventually they can see I'm serious and that I have a good grasp of how the condition applies to me. But I was hearing things like that a lot too, and one of my closest friends said it the most overtly. And when I first put the idea forward to a few people, I think I counted five times back to back that people said "well if you are, you're really high-functioning" in those exact words. Which is kind of a nice and encouraging opinion to hear, in retrospect.

Yes, and then there's the small matter of that letter from an experienced psychiatrist...

I think the hardest thing for me is realizing not that anyone really had bad reactions about me actually being an Aspie, but just that 2 or 3 people I really like and appreciate were less sure about how to talk to me after that, and I hate that it put a distance in the relationship which didn't exist before. That's the only evidence I've had that it might not always be good to tell someone, I've really been very lucky.



Same here and same here. I don't think anyone minds, I certainly don't! Thank you for your rant and all the thoughts in it, and for all your encouragement and support too! Feel free to rant any time.

All these are, are more reasons to hug. So another hug for Moomingirl, Anonymous, and all the rest of us too.

I'm going to hug... AspieOtaku.

I hug Kouzoku!

ThetaIn3D, I could write an essay in response to your post. But I am not going to derail this thread any further, so I will send you a PM.
But for now you get a hug too

Sorry, good idea.

And I won't let anyone give away more hugs than they're getting back, so another one for you, with gratitude!

*gives a hug to everyone that posted here*

I hug Andras and the next person!

I hug AnonymousAnonymous!

I hug Moomingirl and the next three people!